Juicy chicken and mushrooms in a madeira cream sauce under melty cheese and asparagus… all you need is mashed potatoes to go with it. This creamy Chicken Madeira is one of the most popular menu item at the Cheesecake Factory. It is popular for good reason! We love recreating our favorite restaurant copycat recipes like this one from Olive Garden!
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The madeira cream sauce has incredible flavor. You will want to dip your bread into the pan before the night is over and get every last drop of it. This Chicken Madeira recipe tastes fancy and will impress your family, dinner guests or your special someone for a date night in! This is one of our favorite copycat recipes.
Everyone in our family loved this Chicken Madeira, even the baby! My Mom was particularly impressed (she was trained as a chef so naturally when Mom is impressed, I’m beaming!).
This made for a lovely and fancy dinner and there was nothing overly difficult about it. Now you can also enjoy homemade Chicken Madeira for a fraction of the price!
Watch How to Make Chicken Madeira Recipe:
We went to the Cheesecake Factory on our Anniversary for my husbands’ first (and my second) time ever and ordered their world famous Chicken Madeira. It was love at first bite and we just knew we had to recreate this dish at home.
We made a copycat Chicken Madeira, except I love the homemade version even better! And, when you make it at home, you can feed a family of 4 for the cost of 1 serving at the restaurant. This is why we love copycat recipes so much!
Ingredients for Easy Chicken Madeira Recipe:
These simple ingredients work together to make a memorable one-pan dinner. If the wine section of your grocery store does not have Madeira, check at the liquor and wine store – I purchased this bottle for $6. If you aren’t able to find Madeira wine, you can substitute with Marsala wine which is also a sweet wine although it will taste more like chicken marsala ;).
How to Make Copycat Chicken Madeira:
1. To blanch asparagus: Remove fibrous stems from asparagus by snapping them off (watch video above). To blanch asparagus, fill a medium pot with 6 cups water, bring to a boil and add 1 Tbsp salt. Add asparagus and boil uncovered until crisp tender and bright green (2-3 minutes then remove immediately from hot water and set aside).
2. Place a large heavy (oven-safe) pan over medium/high heat and melt in 2 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil. Add thickly sliced mushrooms and cook 5 minutes until soft. Stir in diced onion and cook 3 minutes. Add minced garlic cloves then season with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and 2 Tbsp fresh parsley. Cook another 2 minutes then remove mixture to a plate and wipe skillet clean with wet paper towel.
3. Slice chicken breasts in half lengthwise and pound each cutlet between plastic wrap until no more than 1/4″ thick. Season chicken breasts all over with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Place same pan over medium/high heat and add 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil. When butter is finished foaming, add chicken breasts and saute 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from pan to the same plate as mushrooms.
4. In the same pan, add 1 1/2 cups Madeira and boil until reduced by half (5 minutes of vigorous boiling), scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Add 1 1/2 cups beef broth and boil until 2/3 cup liquid remains or about 1/4 of it’s original volume (10 min). Reduce heat to medium, add 1/2 cup cream and simmer until sauce thickens (2 min). Season sauce with salt and pepper to taste and turn off heat.
5. Return chicken to the pan, turning it to coat in the sauce. Top with mushrooms, asparagus and sprinkle 1 cup of mozzarella cheese over the top. Broil 3-4 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, garnish with fresh parsley.
Are you hungry yet? This dish always gets rave reviews at the dinner table and it’s so good paired with Mashed Potatoes. I hope it becomes a new favorite for your family.
Our Most Popular Chicken Recipes:
- Chicken Avocado Salad – our #1 most popular chicken recipe
- Spatchcock Chicken – the juiciest way to roast a whole chicken
- Garlic Butter Stuffed Chicken – you won’t believe what’s inside!
- Stuffed Chicken Parmesan – a classic chicken recipe just got better
Chicken Madeira Recipe (Cheesecake Factory Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts (2 large)
- 1 lb asparagus, blanched*
- 3/4 tsp sea salt, divided, and black pepper to taste
- 3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, divided
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 16 oz button mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 1 small or 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped, plus to garnish
- 1 1/2 cups Madeira Wine, sweet white wine*
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium beef stock or broth
- 1/2 cup Whipping Cream, heavy or regular
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
- To blanch asparagus: Remove fibrous stems from asparagus by snapping them off. Fill a medium pot with 6 cups water, bring to a boil and add 1 Tbsp salt. Add asparagus and boil uncovered until crisp tender and bright green (2-3 minutes then remove from hot water and set aside).
- Place a large heavy (oven-safe) pan over medium/high heat and melt in 2 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil. Add sliced mushrooms and cook 5 min until soft. Stir in diced onion and cook 3 min. Add minced garlic cloves then season with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper and 2 Tbsp parsley. Cook another 2 min then remove mixture to a plate and wipe skillet clean with wet paper towel.
- Slice chicken breasts in half lengthwise and pound each cutlet between plastic wrap until no more than 1/4" thick. Season chicken all over with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Place same pan over medium/high heat and add 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil. When butter is finished foaming, add chicken breasts and sauté 3 to 4 min per side or until golden and cooked through. Remove chicken from pan to the same plate with mushrooms.
- In the same pan, add 1 1/2 cups Madeira and boil until reduced by half (5 minutes vigorous boiling), scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Add 1 1/2 cups beef broth and boil until 2/3 cup liquid remains or about 1/4 of it's original volume (10 min). Reduce heat to medium, add 1/2 cup cream and simmer until sauce thickens (2 min). Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Return chicken to the pan, turning it to coat in the sauce. Top with mushrooms, asparagus and sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese over the top. Broil 3-4 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, garnish with fresh parsley.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This chicken madeira recipe is easy and so good – just the way it should be. And, it’s so smart to dine in, especially if you are feeding a crowd!
My husband and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary with this dish. 14 years feels just few by and we now have an 8 year old and 2 year old. WOAH!! I am so thankful that we are best friends after all these years and that we not only love, but really like each other – and we work side by side day after day. The longer I am married to my husband, the more I just want to be around him and with him. Our date nights are few and far between but they are a treat!
Q: What is your favorite celebration dish and restaurant? I’d love to hear about it in a comment below!
P.S. If you love one-pan chicken recipes, make sure to check out this reader favorite (EASY) pesto chicken!
I have made this multiple times and it is always a hit. You definitely need the Madeira wine for this though. I have been unable to find it in grocery stores, but Binny’s and/or another well stocked liquor store should have it. I’ve made it with Marsala once before when my liquor store was out- it’s good but as noted in the recipe above it will taste like Chicken Marsala. Definitely helps to have your ingredients prepped beforehand too!
Thank you for sharing, Holly! I’m glad you love this recipe!
Great recipe but hate those bloody adverts that keep popping up all the time.
Five stars for the Madiera sauce, four stars for the final product.
I made this almost exactly as the recipe calls for (no substitutions, but I used a bit of cornstarch to thicken the sauce at the end.)
The flavor is incredible, and it was one of the few meals that my food-critical husband actually complimented multiple times while he ate it. So thank you for the win, ha!
We both felt that the mozzarella was one element too many, so when I make it again I’ll omit it. I’d also serve the asparagus on the side rather than in the skillet but that’s preference and not a criticism of the recipe. Everything together in the pan made for a messy plating but that didn’t affect the terrific flavor.
I made it with two large chicken breasts, thin sliced and pounded into cutlets. In the end, the sauce-to-meat ratio was pretty high so in my opinion, you could increase the amount of chicken and still have plenty of the sauce to go around. This is just as good the next day as leftovers, so stretch it and get two meals out of it for your efforts!
Serve with crusty bread to dip in the sauce…heaven!
This is a very rich, deeply flavorful meal so it probably won’t go into regular weeknight rotation but it’s definitely going into the recipe binder.
(I also found a dusty bottle of Borges Madiera in my local bottle shop, for under eight dollars. Look for it with the ports.)
Thank you for your detailed comments and feedback. We appreciate that you shared your experience trying out this recipe!
I thought this dish was quite delicious. I set the timer for cooking down both the Maderia wine and the chicken broth. It did not thicken as needed. Next time I will reduce the broth longer as someone else pointed out in a previous comment.
The Sandemans Madeira wine at Harris Teeter in NC was 19.99. Called around and the price was about the same. Not sold at all grocery store chains. But it does taste pretty good as a sipping wine as does a good Port.
Thanks for your comments and feedback, Suzanne!
I don’t consume alcohol/wine. Is There some thing that I could substitute for that?
The wine is what makes this dish unique. You could use broth, but it would not taste the same.
All the alcohol cooks off so you will only have the sweet flavor of madeira. No concerns of it making you drunk.
If you don’t consume alcohol, this might not be a good recipe for you to try.
Cooking/simmering does not burn off all of the alcohol. I’ve read in multiple sources that as much as 40% still remains even after a good 15-20 minute simmer.
If you don’t like the taste of alcohol, then you might still enjoy this because it isn’t an alcohol-forward dish, once it’s been simmered (ie, there’s no “burn”)—there’s just the flavor of the Madiera.
If you *cannot* have alcohol, then you may have to just give this one a miss.
Personally, I would not serve this to guests or family members who need to abstain for whatever reason.
Hi Natasha, can I cook this on a regular pan (not oven safe)- and then transfer everything to bake in a casserole dish? I’m thinking of scaling up the recipe to feed 8 people if that works. 😋
Hi Isabel, I bet that could work, but transferring it may get tricky. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hi Natasha, I tried this tonight and sauce was very sweet for my taste, how do I back off the sweetness? I think I would really like it if the sauce less sweet.
Hi Diane, we believe we have found the perfect balance between the sweet wine and the ingredients. Be sure you didn’t substitute or leave out the sea salt.
Has anyone substituted the asparagus for another vegetable, such as green beans? My husband doesn’t like asparagus but I want to make it.
Hi Christina! I think that would be fine. Cooked spinach or carrots work as well. Or serve the veggie on the side and it will not affect the flavor of the dish.
I have made this recipe many times for company. I always get
rave reviews!!!
Thank you for the review, Diana! I’m so glad it’s loved.
Sounds awesome!
Can this recipe be revised to just bake and not do on top of stove….and if so how?
Hi Laney, I haven’t tried those process substitutions, so I can’t speak to that. Sauteeing the mushrooms and cooking down the Madeira wine is a crucial step. Substitutions may hinder the recipe outcome. I always suggest making a recipe as written the first time around.
The only dish my husband ever gets at Cheesecake Factory is chicken madiera. Made this and we both loved it! He said it was pretty dang close to Cheesecake Factory, next time I would just try to thicken the sauce a little more and double the sauce portion. That sauce was soooo good! Love this recipe.
Wonderful! So glad it was enjoyed. Thank you for the review, Allison. 🙂
Thank you Natasha. Enjoyed reading about your anniversary and how special your marriage is. How do I get my husband to cook with me? It is a very romantic activity for a couple. Thanks for your recipes, especially the recent Chicken Madeira! Yum! You really make it easy to follow your recipes. You’re the best!
I’m glad you enjoyed that. My husband really enjoys cooking so I’m lucky because I didn’t have to convince him. I think it can be a great bonding if you do it with your husband, just let him know, maybe he will be up for it too!
Really good! Tastes just like CF. The sauce is definitely the star of the show, delicious!
I lightened it up slightly by using half the butter and oil indicated, 1/3 cup of cream, and 1/2 regular mozzarella 1/2 fat free mozzarella.
I did find I had to boil the sauce in the second step quite a bit longer. Reducing the madeira did take about 5 mins as indicated by the recipe, but it took almost 20 mins to reduce down the beef broth/madeira mixture.
I served it with cauliflower mash and it was wonderful.
Thank you for the feedback, Jeff! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Apparently, where I live in Canada (Ontario) madeira wines in the local LCBO’s are few and far between and priced from $30. – $300.00! Guess I’ll stick with Chicken Marsala!!
Hi Val, woah! That is wild for pricing on madeira. They are pretty inexpensive here but as I have written above: “If you aren’t able to find Madeira wine, you can substitute with Marsala wine which is also a sweet wine although it will taste more like chicken marsala”
This recipe was delicious! I used green beans & substituted balsamic vinegar for the Madeira Wine because my husband cannot have alcohol.
I’m glad you enjoyed it using the substitutions that you tried!
hi gina! I also can’t have alcohol, cooked out or not. did you use same amount ( 1and a half cups) of balsamic as wine?
Made this dish last night and it was wonderful! My wife said the sauce was the best and a new favorite! We put the chicken and sauce over bowtie pasta. We may have this for our twentieth wedding anniversary next week.
That’s really awesome to hear that you both enjoyed this recipe. I hope you’ll love whatever recipe that you will try and Happy Anniversary in advance!
This sounds like a fabulous dish and I do plan on making it. I am sure this will be a family favorite. But is there a substitute for the cream? To reduce the cholesterol a bit.
Hi Sharon. I have not tested an alternative. Maybe you can reduce some of the amount by adding extra broth in its place or using milk? This could affect the texture of the cream but still may work well. You’d have to experiment with it.
This came out incredibly flavorful. I’m not sure if this was just as good or better than the Cheesecake Factory because I’ve never ordered this most popular dish when I ate there so many years ago. I preferred their shrimp scampi or breakfast egg quesadilla. I did make some adjustments to this recipe for my own personal preferences. So I basically followed your recipe except I didn’t pan fry the chicken and then broil them. I baked them. And I increased the servings to 8 and I used thighs instead of breasts. If I can avoid using chicken breasts, I will. And I did in this case. Chicken thighs adds so much more flavor and succulent moisture that breasts sorely lack. I seasoned the uncooked chicken with a family recipe of herbs and spices and then placed them in a baking casserole dish and poured the sauce all over them, added the mushrooms and asparagus that I all made following all your steps, minus the fried breasts. I then added the mozzarella on top of everything and baked at 375 degrees for 30 minutes and it turned out fantastic. Thanks for sharing. I will definitely be making this again.
Hello there Kazy, thank you so much for your detailed feedback, we appreciate it. We’re happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe a lot!
Hi Natasha
I plan on making this dish this Monday. I really like sliced onions over chopped onions as you can feel them in your mouth when you eat them. Would sliced onions work in this dish? Also I have an 8 ounce unopened bag of spinach I need to use before it goes bad. I was wondering if I could add that to the dish. Perhaps wilt them right after sauteeing the mushrooms, onion and garlic. Would the spinach corrupt the flavor?
Hi Kazy, I don’t think spinach would corrupt the flavor. I think it would go well. As for the sliced onions, that could work fine. Let us know how it turns out. 🙂
This recipe is so, so delicious! The flavour in that sauce is to die for. This is definitely a recipe that would be well received by dinner guests.
Thanks for the awesome feedback, Janice!